Brushing and Flossing
It’s more important than ever to brush and floss regularly when you have braces, so the teeth and gums are healthy during orthodontic treatment. Patients who do not keep their teeth clean may require more frequent visits to the dentist for a professional cleaning. Adults who have a history of gum disease should also see a periodontist during orthodontic treatment.
Eating with Braces
What can you eat? Let’s talk about what you shouldn’t eat! For the first day or so, stick to soft foods. Avoid tough meats, hard breads, and raw vegetables. You will need to protect your orthodontic appliances when you eat by avoiding particular foods listed below.
Foods to Avoid
- Chewy foods: bagels, hard rolls, beef jerky
- Crunchy foods: popcorn, ice
- Sticky foods: caramels, gum, suckers, skittles, sugary snacks
- Hard foods: nuts, mints, jolly ranchers, hard granola bars
- Foods you have to bite into: corn on the cob, apples, carrots. These foods can be eaten after cut into small bite size pieces.
Chewing on hard things (for example, pens, pencils or fingernails) can damage the braces. Damaged braces will cause treatment to take longer.
General Soreness
When you get your braces on, you may feel general soreness in your mouth and teeth may be tender to biting pressures for 3 – 5 days. Take Tylenol or whatever you normally take for headache or discomfort. The lips, cheeks and tongue may also become irritated for one to two weeks as they toughen and become accustomed to the braces. We will supply wax to put on the braces in irritated areas to lessen discomfort.
Loosening of Teeth
This is to be expected throughout treatment. Don’t worry! It’s normal. Teeth must loosen first so they can move. The teeth will firm up in their new — corrected — positions after treatment is completed.
Loose Wire
If a wire is irritating, use a blunt instrument (eraser end of a pencil) and carefully, gently push the irritating wire back against the teeth. Simply get it out of the way. If irritation to the lips or mouth continues, place wax on the wire to reduce the annoyance. Call our office as soon as possible for an appointment to check and repair the problem.
Rubber Band Wear
To successfully complete orthodontic treatment, the patient must work together with the orthodontist. The teeth and jaws can only move toward their corrected positions if the patient consistently wears the rubber bands or other appliances as prescribed. Lack of cooperation following instructions and damaged appliances lengthen the treatment time… so please … follow instructions.
Athletics
If you play sports, it’s important you let us know. A protective mouth guard is provided, as a courtesy, to all patients that are playing contact sports.
